


Reconciliation

by mmanalysis



Category: Cyborg 009
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Biracial Character, Gen, Racebending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:49:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1934517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmanalysis/pseuds/mmanalysis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe Shimamura doesn't like his non-Japanese half for the longest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

> I will be writing from the 2001 series canon. Disclaimer: I do not own and/or claim these characters as my own. They belong to Shotaro Ishinomori and Japan Vistec studio.

Whoever said that kids can’t tell color have never been around Joe’s orphanage. Joe knew he was different when he was able to understand. His hair was curlier, defying gravity and his skin was darker than most of the other kids. It didn’t mean much until the snide remarks. The “Are you Japanese?” aimed at him. He didn’t even know he was considered Black until someone pointed it out to him, asserting that he wasn’t a real Japanese. He had punched the kid and gotten detention. 

He hated the adults especially. Some of whom worked at the orphanage thought he couldn’t hear them gossiping about what kind of black man his mom had had sex with, wondering if he was like one of those thugs that they saw on TV and concluding that’s probably where Joe got it from. And if they weren’t saying that they were complaining about his hair being too difficult and why it wouldn’t just lay down. Some whispering that it was too bad he didn’t favor his mother’s complexion. 

Joe had a hard time looking at mirrors for the longest,

It wasn’t until he was about 15 that things changed. He walked along the streets of Tokyo, one of the places where he didn’t feel as many stares, when he bumped into a man spilling his books to the ground. Joe apologized helping the man to his feet when he finally got a good look at him. The man was the same height, darker skin than Joe’s with dreadlocks and a goatee. The man looked at Joe for a minute before saying “And I thought I was the only brother here!”

Apparently Joe must have made a face because the guy looked surprised and apologized saying that he was wrong to assume until Joe said it was okay. The man introduced himself as Dwayne and asked if he wanted to catch lunch with him. Joe would have said no. He didn’t know him and he would just attract more attention. But something inside told him.

They went into a small ramen shop that Joe could afford and Dwayne talked about his time studying abroad, talking about how he had wanted to come to Japan since hearing his grandfather’s World War II stories. 

“What are you studying?” asked Joe.

“Ah, actually art! I mean my main degree is in business but I really want to be a comic book artist and writer. Like this guy here.” 

He then pulled out a comic book and handed it to Joe. The character was a black male, looked to be a teenager too as he grinned on the cover while using his strength to lift up a car. 

“He’s one of my favorite heroes. Like black guys were in comic books but not like the main headliners. It was so cool to see it.” 

Joe nodded in understanding, briefly wishing that maybe he saw someone like himself in all the manga and magazines he would pass by in the storefronts.

“If you want, you can have it. I mean it’s in English but I already have another copy of this issue and it’s to apologize for the comment earlier.” 

He wanted to say that it was alright, that you were the first person to at least give a damn but held it in. He wasn’t about to spill his guts to a stranger no matter how nice. He did take the comic as they exited the shop, looking through the pages. After figuring that it went from left to right, he managed to get the gist of the story. A young kid who people had tried to put him in some narrow box but refused to go in. Joe liked that and wondered why he couldn’t be like that. But then Joe wondered if he didn’t help matters by trying to deny his black side. 

He couldn’t give a crap about his father but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to say he was both black and Japanese. Why should he care that his hair wouldn’t lay flat? Or that his skin was darker than the others? 

He didn’t care and he certainly didn’t care as the red headed man with the point nose came flying in to rescue him. 

“Huh, they said I was supposed to be rescuing some Japanese guy named Joe Shimamura.” With a confused expression.

The part of Joe’s mind that still wasn’t freaking out about a flying guy just looked and said “You got the right guy. So, are you 001?”

Joe certainly didn’t care now, not when being a cyborg made your life a lot more difficult.

**Author's Note:**

> This was born out of an idea I put out on Tumblr about what if Joe's dad was black since they never delved into that part of his heritage. 
> 
> I hope to add more parts to the story delving into how the other characters relate to him, whether he goes to find out about his dad's side, and maybe do other AUs imagining the other characters as different races.


End file.
